How to get the child to take Amoxicillin

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

Last week, Sadie had an ugly ear infection, and as I drove into CVS, I was dreading the future. I knew we’d have to give her Amoxicillin three times a day for the next ten days. The pink stuff is not Sadie’s friend. It doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t smell good, and she doesn’t understand that she needs to take it in order to get better.

For a baby/toddler, you drop the pink stuff in the mouth with a little syringe-style dropper. The key to success is to draw a little air into the syringe before bringing in the pink stuff, eliminating the vacuum seal. What this means is that she can gently suck the pink stuff in instead of me having to squirt it down her throat. It’s much more pleasant for everyone, and after a time or two the whole process took less than a minute from beginning to end.

Then, we get to celebrate what a good girl she is, often with a rousing Donna Summer “I want the pink stuff, baby, this evening. I want the pink stuff, baby, tonight” chorus! Everybody wins.